Comics Great Neal Adams Dies At 80

Above, Neal Adams and yours truly at the 2012 Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles.

by Armand Vaquer

Very sad news!

It is the kind of news that forces one to shout, "Aw, f*ck!"

Comic book artist great Neal Adams has passed away at age 80. He was the man who created the definitive Bronze Age Batman for DC Comics.

Don Glut posted the following on Facebook:

I just heard the sad news that artist Neal Adams -- who  back in the 1960s changed the look of comics -- has died at 80.  Neal illustrated one of my earliest professional stories, "Goddess from the Sea," in VAMPIRELLA #1. What a thrill it was for novice me to open that magazine and find that Neal had done the art for one of  my stories - and made it so much better than it actually was. And I'm so glad that last year -- finally --  in his Crusty Bunkers comic book shop right here in Burbank, CA, he autographed my original copy of that issue.

He also posted:

FYI, I just received this email message from Jim Steranko: Yeah, I was the first that Chris Adams called with the bad news. No prolonged suffering; he died in his sleep about 2-3 in the morning. Don't believe I can accept it—just cannot imagine the Comix World without Neal. At last weekend's show, a couple fanboys mentioned stories about he and I being adversaries—completely fabricated for PR hacking. Even though we were both hard-headed, opinionated SOBs, we NEVER had a negative word between us. Never!!! And I attributed that mostly to Neal!"

I was privileged to meet Neal Adams at the 2012 Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  

I heard he was in ill health in recent months, but this was totally unexpected, at least to me. This is a big loss for comic book fans.

My sincerest condolences to his family and friends. 

1950s Sci-Fi Presentation Added To Monsterpalooza

by Armand Vaquer

A presentation on 1950s science-fiction movies has been added to the opening day (April 8) Friday night line-up of Monsterpalooza:


(Click on image to view larger.)

The presentation features Bill Warren, Ted Newsom and "Mr. Dino" himself, Donald F. Glut.

Above, Don Glut and Armand in 2007.

It will take place following my presentation on Japanese monster locations, but in the AFM room at 9:00 PM at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.

For more information on Monsterpalooza, go here.

Christine Nguyen: In Great Shape With Don's Dinosaurs

Text by Armand Vaquer. Photos Copyright 2011 by Donald F. Glut and used with permission.

Above, Christine with a pteranodon who seems to have plucked away a garment. Watch the birdie!

Dinosaur expert and movie producer/director Donald F. Glut (for Frontline Entertainment) sent over these photos from a photo shoot for his dinosaur collection web pages of actress/model (and fan favorite) Christine Nguyen. The photos were taken at Glut's Burbank residence yesterday.

Above, Christine with Don Glut.

Nguyen recently was involved in a serious traffic accident in Los Angeles which could have had tragic consequences. Although she sustained some injuries, as you can see, it hasn't dimmed her natural glow and sense of humor.

Above, strategically-placed dinosaur toy heads made this shot safe for this blog.

To see these and other photos of Don Glut's collection, go to http://www.collectorsquest.com. Then search: Don Glut's Dinosaurs.

Don Glut and Christine Nguyen At Film Fest

by Armand Vaquer


Writer-producer-director-dinosaur expert Donald F. Glut catches up with always-radiant actress/model Christine Nguyen (at right) at the Boobs and Blood Film Festival yesterday.

According to Glut, it was "a small "film festival" over this weekend, held at the New Beverly Theatre."

Nguyen starred in The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty (2006) that was written and directed by Glut and was released by Frontline Entertainment.

Above, Christine is interviewed by Don on stage.

Photos courtesy of Don Glut.

Christine Nguyen Photo Session Part 2

by Armand Vaquer

Photographs Courtesy of Don Glut

To help celebrate Independence Day, here's some more photographs of Christine Nguyen.

Frontline Entertainment's writer/director/producer Donald F. Glut sent over some more photos of Christine Nguyen from their recent photo session for your viewing enjoyment. A couple of them had been posted previously, but these are larger photo files.

Above, this is a new photo of Christine in Don's den.

Above, this shot of Christine and "The Donald" was posted previously, but this is a much larger version.

Above, Christine poses while holding an Apatosaurus bone from Don's collection.

Above, this photo of Christine was posted previously, but this is a larger version.

Above, Christine sports a t-shirt from Chicago's Field Museum, which has one of the most extensive dinosaur fossil collections in the world. This photo should be "PG" enough to post here.

To see his page of collection photographs, some featuring Christine, go here.

Christine Nguyen At The House of Glut

Above, Christine Nguyen this week at The House of Glut. Photo courtesy of Don Glut.

Christine Nguyen At The House of Glut

by Armand Vaquer

Producer/director/writer Donald F. Glut of Frontline Entertainment completed a photo shoot of Christine Nguyen this week at his Burbank home, which is also a museum of dinosaur artifacts, science-fiction & horror movie memorabilia and various other interests.

The photo shoot had been delayed due to Christine's busy schedule. This week, she's been at work on "MILF," a comedy from The Asylum.

Above, Christine Nguyen and Don Glut. Photo courtesy of Don Glut.

Christine starred in Glut's The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty in 2006.

Glut has an amazing collection of dino artifacts and movie memorabilia. Whenever he can, he checks out auctions and sales of dino artifacts to add to his collection.

To see his page of collection photographs, some featuring Christine, go here.

A Real Sweetheart: Christine Nguyen!

Photo courtesy of Christine Nguyen.

A Real Sweetheart: Christine Nguyen!

by Armand Vaquer

A funny thing happened the other night.

I was about an hour and a half away from going off-duty in my "parachute" job as a security patrol officer when I stopped at the guard shack at one of the gated communities I patrol in Malibu.

Inside, the guard had on television the Poorman's Bikini Beach show. The show was about ten minutes away from ending and they played a teaser (just before a commercial break) of their hotline segment with a panel of three bikini-clad lovelies who would answer callers' questions. One of them was very familiar to me, but I wasn't sure as the teaser whisked by.

After the commercial break, segment came on and one of the panelists was Christine Nguyen! Hot damn! (Ahem.) It truly is a small world.

I told the guard of Christine and he was very impressed with her. He hadn't heard of her before, and he comes from a show-biz family (his uncle was comedian Billy Gilbert from the Hal Roach Laurel & Hardy comedies (see "The Music Box" or "County Hospital") and his mother acted in many Gene Autry westerns) He also has acted and is a card-carrying SAG member. I sent Christine a text message telling her that we just saw her on the show.

Minutes later (around midnight) she text her thanks. Tom, the guard I was with, speculated that she may have been up watching too.

The next day, I followed up by telling Christine the circumstances on how we happened to see her on the show. I won't post what she said in our exchanges (at one point she did say I made her "blush"), but Christine is one real sweet lady! (I knew this before, as she was the first to send me a condolence message the morning of my mother's passing.)

It is Christine's natural sweetness and humor that comes through in her acting and model work. One cannot avoid being drawn to her. That shouldn't be too difficult to understand: she's an Aquarius! Christine and I both were born on February 4.

Besides being a fan, it is an honor for me to also be a friend of Christine Nguyen. She's a real sweetheart!

Superman and The Mummy's Kiss: Something Shared

Above, the E. Clem Wilson Building, something that the "Adventures of Superman" and "The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty" have in common.

Superman and The Mummy's Kiss: Something Shared

by Armand Vaquer

After I posted my spotlight feature on actress/model/language instructor Yuu Asakura on Monster Island News, I was in the mood to watch Don Glut's The Mummy's Kiss Second Dynasty tonight. In the movie, Yuu Asakura had a bit part as Marie, the assistant to the tabloid editor. Christine Nguyen played the tabloid's ace reporter who gets wrapped up in the mummy story.

For the first time, I watched the movie with the commentary track on and noted Don's comment that he wanted to use the E. Clem Wilson Building on Wilshire Blvd. at La Brea Ave. in the movie as the tabloid office so he could correct an error in the first (1951) season DVD set of the Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves.

Above, the E. Clem Wilson Building as the Daily Planet Building in 1951.

In the commentary track, Glut said that the commentators in the Superman DVD said that the building used for the Daily Planet Building was Los Angeles City Hall. In actuality, the E. Clem Wilson Building was used as the Daily Planet in 1951. Starting in 1953, City Hall was used as the Daily Planet until the show ended in 1957. Both Gary Grossman (Superman: Serial To Cereal) and Chuck Harter made the same error in their commentaries.

I guess we can now deem the error corrected, thanks to Don Glut.

Focus On: Yuu Asakura

Above, this shot of Yuu is my personal favorite.

Focus On: Yuu Asakura

By Armand Vaquer

Some have wondered who the model is holding a copy of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan in several blog posts on the travel guide. Some thought she looked familiar, but couldn't quite place her.

Her name is Yuu Asakura, and according to Wikipedia:

Yuu Asakura (born in Kawanishi, Hyogo, Japan in 1976) is a Japanese actress, dancer and language instructor based out of Los Angeles, California, USA.

She moved to Los Angeles after graduating from Tokyo University in 2000 with a B.A. in linguistics and area studies. She has worked as a translator for Hollywood production companies and tutored students at various stages in speaking Japanese, including a series of short clips released on the website expertvillage.com on basic spoken Japanese. She taught English in Japan for many years and views her work in language training as offering a "communication tool for better understanding for one another."

I first noticed Yuu in Don Glut's The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty (that stars Christine Nguyen) in which she had a bit part as Marie, the assistant to a tabloid editor. I needed an Asian model for a publicity photo shoot for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan and was able to obtain Yuu through Don. When we first met for the shoot at Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley (we were going to do it at the Japanese Gardens in Van Nuys, but a recent storm made the place unusable due to mud), I mentioned first seeing her in The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty and she responded with a giggle.


I found Yuu very easy to work with and she obviously knew how to pose without much direction by me.

As mentioned above, Yuu is also an actress and has appeared in several movies besides the Glut mummy movie. To see her IMDB listing, go here. There's another Yuu Asakura who appears in Japanese porn movies, so don't get confused. The other Yuu Asakura does not even look like this Yuu Asakura.










Left, one of several photos of Yuu Asakura Don Glut sent me when I was deciding on a model for the photo shoot.

Yuu has her own website. To see it, just click here. Here, one may contact her for arranging Japanese language instruction as well as modeling and acting work (naturally, she'd direct the people making the query to her management company).





She's a member of SAG and AFTRA and is represented by Infinite Talent Agency ((818)955-8662).

Would I recommend Yuu Asakura to anyone in need of a Japanese model? I sure would!

Happy Birthday, Christine Nguyen!

Photo courtesy of Christine Nguyen.

Happy Birthday, Christine Nguyen!

by Armand Vaquer

Actress/model Christine Nguyen (The Mummy's Kiss: Second Dynasty) celebrates her birthday tomorrow.

By coincidence, I also will be celebrating my birthday, although I've a few years on Christine.

When she found out that my birthday falls on the same day as hers, she said, "OMGoodness! You're birthday is on February 4th, too?!?! So cool! You are the first person I have ever known with my birthday! We must remember to toast each other that day!"

I'm entirely not sure, but I think a relative of mine also has her birthday on February 4.



Christine is currently in a contest called The 1 Contest. She has received many votes since Ted Newsom (who did the poster above), Don Glut and I started campaigning for her, but she needs more to have a chance to win. So...to help make Christine's birthday a good one, go to the link below and vote for Christine.

To vote, go here: http://www.the1contest.com/. Voting ends March 15.

Happy Birthday, Christine! (From one Aquarius to another!)

Bikini Frankenstein With Christine Nguyen

Photo courtesy of Christine Nguyen.

Frankenstein With Christine Nguyen

by Armand Vaquer

Actress/model Christine Nguyen announced that she's starting a new movie today. It's called Bikini Frankenstein.

I don't know the details (producer, director, screenwriter, etc.) yet.

I'm not too sure that I'd want to see the Monster in a bikini. If it's something Christine is involved in, I'm sure we won't be subjected to something of that nature.

I'll try to get more details on the flick.

UPDATE: I inquired if Don Glut is involved and he indicated that he isn't. He strongly recommends Christine...

"...to other directors and producers. She was just a delight to work with. And if I ever raise the money for my female werewolf movie, she'll almost certainly be a major part of it.

Christine recently did a topless cavegirl photo session for me, which will appear on a "bonus feature" (along with other models/actresses) on our upcoming "5 Star" edition of DINOSAUR VALLEY GIRLS (hours of new stuff), out in a month or so. But those fully topless shots will only appear on the DVD, nowhere else."

Here's one of them (taken in Don's backyard*):

Don Glut photo.

Incidentally, Don also reports:

One last thing about Christine, we've just reissued THE MUMMY'S KISS: 2ND DYNASTY in a brand new remastered "5 Star Edition." I've already posted this image on other threads, but since this one is completely devoted to Christine, here it is again (available from Amazon and directly from us at http://www.FrontlineFilms.com):

UPDATE (8/5/09): Fred Olen Ray is directing this and at least 4 other new bikini movies between now and next year. Christine Nguyen is in 2, but in possibly smaller supporting roles. More info to follow as it comes in.

*I've been to Don's home and his backyard, that's how I know.